McGill Reporter news

Former McGill Principal David Johnston was installed as Canada’s 28th Governor General in a ceremony on Parliament Hill on Oct.1. Johnston took his oath of office in the plush red Senate chamber under the watchful eyes of a host of dignitaries, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper, former prime ministers, former governors-general and nine justices of the Supreme Court.

One has a secret love of chocolate-covered almonds, another is/was a lifelong Montreal Expos fan and a third is a McGill grad who recently spent time in Tanzania.
Say hello to McGill’s newest senior administrators.

This is the first installment of what will be a regular feature in the McGill Reporter. Based upon MacKay Smith’s 2009 book, Memories and Profiles of McGill University, McGill Memories will look at the history of some of the University’s oldest and most interesting architecture and, by extension, some of the builders and philanthropists who helped shape the face of McGill.

By McGill Reporter Staff The decision to close the Architecture Café was taken because it had become apparent that the Café’s operating model was not financially or managerially sustainable, Deputy Provost (Student Life & Learning) Morton Mendelson told Senate at its meeting on Sept. 22. “I did not make the decision lightly,” Mendelson said, “because [...]

Salty humour and smoked meat were on the menu at the first annual Mordecai Richler Literary Pub Crawl, which raised $10,000 for the new Writer-in-Residence Program named after the legendary Montreal novelist.

Professor of Law Roderick Macdonald, one of the best legal minds in the country and a former Dean of the Faculty, will be presented with an honorary degree from l’Université de Montréal. Dr. Nicolas Mateesco Matte was conferred the 39th Edward Warner Award, the highest honour in the world of civil aviation.

At Pollack Hall to promote his new book, The Legacy: An Elder's Vision For Our Sustainable Future, legendary environmental activist David Suzuki says, among other things, that it's time to put the "eco" back into the economy.

Timing, they say, is everything. After completing a PhD in Nutrition and Physiology Chemistry at the University of California (Davis), Kristine Koski was looking for a place where she could bring together her research, clinical experience and experience in program development. She found it at McGill, which was beginning to reorganize its School of Dietetics and Human Nutrition.

James Randi is one of the world’s best-known debunkers of paranormalists and pseudoscientists. A magician and an escape artist himself, Randi has been ruthlessly pursuing fraudsters and tricksters for decades. On Oct. 19, he will be speaking about “investigating pseudoscientific and paranormal claims” as part of this year’s Trottier Symposium. Read his answers to our Four Burning Questions here.

By William Raillant-Clark
Quantum mechanics is one of those terms that frighten the lay public – the popular image of being thrown helplessly through time and space probably doesn’t help. In reality, the term “quantum” simply means the smallest amount by which certain physical quantities can change. But small doesn’t mean insignificant, as demonstrated by some [...]

By Neale McDevitt
The McGill community, particularly members of the School of Social Work (SSW), is mourning the passing of David Woosdworth, Emeritus professor of Social Work and the former director of the SSW. Woodsworth died peacefully at St. Mary’s Hospital, on Aug. 13, at the age of 91.
One of Canada’s pre-eminent social-policy thinkers of [...]

By William Raillant-Clark
Dr. Tho Le-Ngoc’s Broadband Communications Laboratory was the perfect setting for a funding announcement that’s sure to resonate with scientists.
On August 6, the facility – which itself has benefited from significant funding from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) – hosted Federal Ministers Gary Goodyear and Christian Paradis for the announcement of [...]

By Neale McDevitt
Wendy Thomson calls it “my Discover Ontario Tour.”
The Director of McGill’s School of Social Work is spending much of the summer the same way she spent much of the past seven months – crisscrossing Eastern Ontario to get to know some of that province’s 53 Children’s Aid Societies (CASs).
Thomson is one of three [...]